Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria

Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH)

Introduction

The Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (CHAH) comprises those administratively responsible for the major Australian and New Zealand Herbaria with the aim of promoting all matters of interest to herbaria in Australasia and to increase cooperation and understanding between herbaria. Its operations are governed by a Constitution and a Statement of Objectives.

CHAH is incorporated in the A.C.T. and is a registered business ABN 31 496 409 479.

Business address:      (Association No. A04433, Incorporated 30/5/2006)

c/- Australian National Herbarium
CSIRO
GPO Box 1600
Canberra ACT 2601

Membership

Membership of CHAH consists of the heads of:

Australia

• State Herbarium of South Australia, Adelaide (AD) [website]
• Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane (BRI) [website]
• Australian National Herbarium, Canberra (CANB) [website]
• Australian Tropical Herbarium, Cairns (CNS) [website]
• Tasmanian Herbarium, Hobart (HO) [website]
• National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne (MEL) [website]
• National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney (NSW) [website]
• Northern Territory Herbarium, Darwin (DNA) [website]
• Western Australian Herbarium, Perth (PERTH) [website]

and
a Council Member representing the constituent collections of the National Collection of Fungi (including BRIP, DAR and VPRI) and a representative of the Australian University Herbaria.

New Zealand

• Allan Herbarium, Christchurch, NZ (CHR) [website]
• Te Papa Herbaria, Wellington, NZ (WELT) [website]
• Auckland Museum Herbarium, NZ (AK) [website]

Contact list (Word doc) for Australian members, June 2007.

Australian and New Zealand Herbaria

The contact details and holdings of Australia's 28 major herbaria are listed on the web site Resources of Australian Herbaria, based on the 1999 publication by Kirsten Cowley and Judy West with statistics updated periodically.

The contact details and holdings of New Zealand ’s herbaria are listed on the website http://www.nzherbaria.org.nz/.

Meetings

The Council meets annually, the host institution rotating among the capital cities in the following order:

The business of CHAH is governed by a constitution. Most matters are resolved by consensus.

Barbara Briggs has outlined her recollections of the early history of CHAH meetings in the 1970s.

Observers

CHAH invites observers from kindred organizations to its meetings. At present there are observers from:

• Papua New Guinea National Herbarium (LAE)
• Council of Heads of Australian Fauna Collections (CHAFC)
• Council of Australian Museum Directors (CAMD)
• Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS)
• Council of Heads of Australian Botanic Gardens (CHABG)

Subcommittees, working groups, and projects

From time to time CHAH establishes subcommittees and/or working groups from among its member institutions to attend to and report on particular issues.

• Herbarium Information Systems Committee (HISCOM) has representatives of the computing and information technology programs of each partcipating institution and deals with the application of new technologie in herbarium management, botanical research and information delivery.
• Australia's Virtual Herbarium is a project of CHAH and HISCOM which aims to provide integrated and shared access to a wide range of information held and produced by Australian Herbaria. Australian herbaria are collaborating to capture all the information from their herbarium collections and to provide and share this information for research, education and environmental decision-making. (ppt resources) (map dots)
• Australian Plant Census is a collaborative project of all the major Australian herbaria which aims to provide a consensus view of the accepted plant names and their synonyms, with explanations of alternative taxonomic opinions and areas of taxonomic uncertainty or confusion. This on-line resource is based on the database of the Australian Plant Name Index. (ppt resources)
• Resources of Australian Herbaria lists the contact details and holdings of Australia's 26 major herbaria on a web site, with statistics updated periodically by participating herbaria.
• Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators is a 'work in progress' biographical listing of collectors and illustrators for the Australian flora, maintained by staff at the Australian National Herbarium with input from other herbaria and by feedback from the public.
  

Reports and documents

CHAH has produced a number of reports that are of interest to the herbarium and botanical community:

• Curation Standards by Tim Entwisle & Kristina McColl, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, 26 September 2000
• Integrated Pest Management in Herbaria by Tony Martin, Lucy Nairn & Tim Entwisle, Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, 28 September 2000
• Resources of Australian Herbaria by Kirsten Cowley and Judy West, Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Canberra.
• Conditions of Loan and Exchange - sample document for use by any Australian herbarium, prepared CANB November 2002.
• Australian Plant Collectors and Illustrators - a web resource of biographical information on collectors and illustrators for the Australian flora.

CHAH Participants
	State Herbarium of South Australia, Adelaide (AD) http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/Knowledge_Bank/Science_and_research/State_Herbarium	Michelle Waycott
	Queensland Herbarium, Brisbane (BRI) http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/herbarium	Gordon Guymer
	Australian National Herbarium, Canberra (CANB) http://www.anbg.gov.au/cpbr/	Brendan Lepschi
	Australian Tropical Herbarium (CNS) http://www.ath.org.au/	Darren Crayn
	Herbarium of the Northern Territory, Darwin (DNA) http://www.nt.gov.au/nreta/wildlife/plants_herbarium/index.html	Donna Lewis
	Tasmanian Herbarium, Hobart (HO) http://www.tmag.tas.gov.au/Herbarium/Herbarium2.htm	Gintaras Kantvilas
	National Herbarium of Victoria, Melbourne (MEL) http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/science/information-and-resources/national-herbarium-of-victoria	David Cantrill
	National Herbarium of New South Wales, Sydney (NSW) http://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/conservation_research/systematics_research	Brett Summerell
	Western Australian Herbarium, Perth (PERTH) http://dpaw.wa.gov.au/plants-and-animals/wa-herbarium	Kevin Thiele
	Allan Herbarium, Christchurch, NZ (CHR) http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/databases/db_details.asp?Database_Collection_ID=1	Ilse Breitwieser
	Te Papa Herbaria, Wellington, NZ (WELT) http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/Tepapa/	Patrick Brownsey
	Auckland Museum, NZ (AK) http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/	Ewen Cameron
	Herbaria within Australian Universities	Murray Henwood
	Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra (ABRS) http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/	Michael Preece